The death of Obede Loyla Souza in Para state in the Brazilian Amazon is the fifth murder in a month. It may have been the result of a land conflict, underscoring a pattern that pits development against the environment.

By
Hannah Stone, Guest blogger /
June 15, 2011

Paulo Santos/Reuters

(Read caption)
Brazilian federal policemen stand guard as government workers load onto barges logs that they confiscated for having been cut illegally from virgin Amazon rain forest, as part of the Arch of Fire operation to stop illegal logging in 2008.

Ribeiro, as has been widely reported, was filmed some months before the killings making a speech at a TED Amazon conference (see video at Insight), in which he tells the audience he is in danger of being murdered by groups who were illegally exploiting the forest around his home.